Faroe-Flung Fashion

While most of us fashion folk were scrambling across 42nd street and herded into the Bryant Park tents for the New York shows, European fashionistas were treated to a catwalk display of a decidedly less cramped variety: the Gudrun & Gudrun show, held February 4 in a cavernous airplane hangar in the Faroe Islands. Never heard of that locale? You’re not alone. Comprising 18 teeny, high-peaked islands nestled between Iceland and Norway, the region has a population of only 45,000. That’s just fine by Gudrun Ludvig and Gudrun Rógvadótti, the designer and businessperson, respectively, behind the burgeoning knitwear line, which is based there. The duo employ Faroese and Jordanian women to knit their light-as-cotton-candy pieces, which include the requisite sweaters and vests as well as less expected numbers, such as a billowy, strapless gown and transparent tanks (Rógvadótti formerly lived in Jordan, where there is a strong knitting tradition amongst women). “We flew about a hundred people in, and then invited about three hundred Faroese locals,” says Rógvadótti. “It was only an 18-minute show, so we did a scenic tour and served food. We had to show off a bit.” And what of the integral members of the Gudrun team who were unable to make the festivities? The local sheep, from whose water-resistant wool the line is made, stayed put, as Rógvadótti said, “happily out in the fields.”